The Grameen Bank was one of the primary cases we studied in my Social Entrepreneurship class this summer. I’m totally stoked that Mohammed Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize today.
Yunus, 66, set up a new kind of bank in 1976 to lend to the neediest, particularly women, in Bangladesh, enabling them to start up small businesses without collateral.
In doing so, he pioneered microcredit, a system copied in more than 100 nations from the United States to Uganda.
[snip]
In awarding a prize more traditionally given to those who sign treaties to end wars or fight for human rights, the secretive five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee said eliminating poverty was a path to peace and democracy.
“Lasting peace cannot be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty. Microcredit is one such means. Development from below also serves to advance democracy and human rights,” the committee added.
“Eradication of poverty can give you real peace,” said Yunus.